


Coming Home

by msdisdain



Category: Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins
Genre: Explicit Language, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-08
Updated: 2012-04-08
Packaged: 2017-11-03 06:55:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/378573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/msdisdain/pseuds/msdisdain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Johanna's lived alone for far too long. Written for the Girl on Fire ficathon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coming Home

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: _there's a house across the river / but alas I cannot swim_

There's a ringing. 

And another. 

And another. 

_What the fuck._

She lifts her head off the couch pillow briefly, decides it's her dream. Or her ears. Or a flashback. 

_Whatever._

She's asleep again in seconds. 

*

The next time there's a ringing, she's awake, slumped at the kitchen table, trying to remember how long she's been eating the congealed porridge that seems to be giving her the stink eye. 

_What the fuck?_

She shoves back from the table, swivels awkwardly to her feet, grabs the doorknob, turns and pulls. A gray morning--afternoon-- _whatever_ \--is the only thing there. 

By the time she figures out it's the phone and unearths it from under a pile of discarded dirty clothes, the ringing has stopped. She stares at it for a minute before yanking it out of the wall and pitching it in the trash. 

*

The ringing's back. 

_What the FUCK?_

She detours on her way to the couch and peers into the trash can. There's stuff on top of it, but she can still see a corner of the phone. 

Behind her, the doorbell rings. 

She lets out a huff of anger, slams her wine glass down on the counter, storms to the door and throws it open. At the sight of the person standing on her doorstep, she blinks once, twice. 

"What the fuck are you doing here?" She turns away from the door, returns to her wine glass, finds it empty. On the way to the bottle, she grabs another glass, fills it, and hands it to him. 

Peeta shuts the door quietly behind him, drops a knapsack to the floor and takes the glass. "Because you don't answer the phone, Mason." He takes a gulp of the wine and grimaces at its harsh taste. "Johanna. This wine is shit. You've got to have enough money to afford something that doesn't taste like the stuff I use to clean my ovens."

Johanna shrugs. "It all gets you drunk."

"So this is what you're doing instead of answering the phone? Drinking wine Haymitch wouldn't even touch...and not cleaning?" He follows a long look around the room with a close look at her. "Or bathing?"

"Fuck you, Mellark," she says without heat, and turns toward the stairs. 

"That's not why I'm here."

"Whatever," she mumbles, and soon he hears the slam of a bedroom door. With a sigh, he grabs his knapsack and heads for the living room couch.

*

"You're still here."

Peeta turns from the stove, spatula in hand. "Yes."

"And you're cooking."

"Sharp as ever," he says, turning back to the pancakes sizzling on the griddle. He flips them each with a practiced hand, then pours her a cup of coffee from the pot on the back burner. "They'll be done in a minute; have a seat."

"Did Katniss--"

"Not until we've eaten, Johanna."

She's so surprised at having someone talk back to her that she reflexively moves to the table and slides into a chair. There's a tablecloth on the table. Plates. Silverware. She wonders how he found it before remembering that he lives in a near-replica of her house, and that they were all outfitted the same way. It still annoys her, though, and the annoyance carries her through two plates of annoyingly good pancakes and three cups of coffee. 

Peeta eats leisurely, and she's been sighing out of irritation for several minutes by the time he wipes his mouth for the last time and lays his napkin by his plate. 

"Well?" she demands. 

"You didn't answer your phone."

Johanna rolls her eyes. "We covered that last night."

"You missed your last visit." 

She looks down at her hands at that, and then away. "I've been busy."

"Johanna." The gentle tone in Peeta's voice has her meeting his eyes. "Dr. Aurelius called us. He said you've missed your last several appointments. Annie wrote Katniss that you've stopped answering her letters."

"Since when is Katniss the district biddy? Or afraid to deliver her own messages?"

"She sent me to bring you back to 12 with me."

"She _sent_ you? Why didn't she come with you?" Dread pools in the bottom of her stomach. "What's--what's the matter with Katniss, Peeta?"

A smile breaks over his face like sunshine. "Nothing, Johanna. The midwife has her on temporary bed rest, that's all."

"Bed rest?" she says, puzzled, before it dawns on her. "She finally caved."

Those words coming from anyone else might've stung, but Peeta knows her too well. "She finally caved," he agrees happily. "The baby's due next month."

"Then again, I ask, what the fuck are you doing here? Why aren't you home, rubbing the Mockingjay's feet and pre-chewing cheese buns for her?"

"Because Katniss wants you to come home."

"This is home." Peeta raises an eyebrow, and she bats the air in frustration. "I don't need you two to take care of me."

"Maybe _we_ need _you_ , you selfish bitch."

Johanna stares at him for a long moment, and then snorts. "I thought you were the nice Mellark."

"I am. You should have heard her after you didn't show up on the train last month. You're lucky she's not allowed to travel. Or use weapons." They grin at each other suddenly, but Peeta's face quickly sobers. "Enough of this solitary, angry bullshit, Johanna. Isn't ten years long enough to wallow out here alone?"

"I am alone, Peeta," she says tiredly. 

"Only by choice now." he reaches across the table and takes hold of her hand, refusing to let her pull free. "Jo. Enough now. Your family wants you to come home. We've got trees out there, and a whole damn empty house for you that looks just like this one, and Haymitch to abuse. You can be as alone as you like, right next door."

She can't swallow around the lump in her throat. "Why can't you just leave me..." her voice trails off. 

"What, alone? To die? We're not having this conversation again. We're done having it. You've had years to be dead. We all have. _Enough now._ You can't pull this shit with Katniss and me anymore, Mason; we wrote the book on it. We're having a baby, and everything's going to be different, and I'll be damned if we have to haul our kid across five districts just to see cranky, drunk Aunt Jo. Cranky, drunk Aunt Jo's going to be right next door, and we're done talking about it. Now get upstairs and pack a couple of bags; we'll have the rest sent on after."

"You came all this way and you're not going to help me?" she says before she realizes she's basically agreed. The relief that pours through her is enough to make her fall to her knees and weep; she can't remember the last time anyone really took care of her. _Finnick._ But she can't go there. Not now, probably not ever. 

"You want me pawing through your underwear?"

"You wish, Mellark," she says, and dodges the wadded-up napkin he throws at her. 

When she's gone, he lowers his head into his hands and lets out a deep, shuddering breath. The last 12 hours have taken him back to a dangerously dark place, one he and Katniss clawed their way back from, and he is so grateful that the Capitol left him enough words to give back to Johanna. Also, going back to a heavily pregnant, extremely cranky Katniss without the object of his trip?

So not an option.

*

As they cross the lawn in the fading afternoon light to the house Peeta shares with Katniss, Johanna spies Haymitch listing to one side on his porch. When he sees her, he rolls his eyes. She lifts her hand in a spectacularly rude gesture, and he chuckles. "Dinner at seven, Haymitch," Peeta calls without breaking his stride. 

The door they're heading toward opens, and Katniss is there, one hand under her impossibly large stomach. "It's about time," she says to Peeta, looking at Johanna. Or maybe it's the other way around. He opens his mouth--to scold her for daring to walk, probably--and she puts a finger over his lips. "I got up to pee and Sae saw you coming. I was going right back to bed." She lifts her hand, rubs away the worried spot between his brows, and kisses him, lightly.  Then she turns to face Johanna. The two women stare each other down for a long moment. 

"You're enormous," Johanna finally manages. 

Katniss lets out a bark of laughter and pulls Johanna into a fierce, brief embrace. "Fuck you," she says. "Get inside already." 

After Johanna's lugged her bags over the threshold and disappeared into the house, Katniss allows Peeta to scoop her up in his arms and kiss her thoroughly. "Thank you," she murmurs against his lips. 

"Every kid needs a bitchy aunt," he says, nuzzling her cheek with his nose and carrying her inside. Johanna's settled herself uneasily on a chair in the living room, and covers her uncertainty with a scowl. Peeta nestles Katniss into the sofa and tucks her in with a blanket. Johanna's mocking words die on her lips as he takes a second blanket and covers her with it. 

"He's such a mother hen," Katniss half-whispers, half-growls at her. 

"I'm right here," Peeta sings out cheerfully, heading for the kitchen. "And someone has to take care of my girls."

The lump is back in Johanna's throat, and she makes a scoffing noise to cover it. Katniss catches her eyes knowingly. "Don't worry; Sae and Thom have been getting Peeta's old house all ready for you. We won't cramp your style too much."

"Good," Johanna mutters, but it's halfhearted, and in this moment, she doesn't much care if Katniss notices. She settles the blanket around her a little tighter, leans her head back, and closes her eyes. 

"Welcome home, Jo."

Johanna thinks about saying something cutting, but she's so warm, and the smells from the kitchen are already so good, and Katniss looks like she's about to explode babies at any second, so for once in her life she decides against it. 

_Home,_ she thinks.

Only Katniss knows she's actually said it aloud. 

_fin_


End file.
